


Bubble Gum Reading

by This is Underwhelming at Best (Sangatsu)



Series: Audience Duplication [6]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangatsu/pseuds/This%20is%20Underwhelming%20at%20Best
Summary: Make sure that you do not write about general topics.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan, Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers, Dande | Leon/Nezu | Piers, Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Series: Audience Duplication [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661776
Kudos: 9





	Bubble Gum Reading

_ Does having an illicit , maybe grotesque thought (for example, the desire of throwing a screaming, crying baby their mother ignored in a subway into a woodchipper machine) instantly make you a bad person? I’d argue no. Unlike the brain, the heart does what it pleases without weighing why it’s wrong or right. Mine is mostly wrong, but the good thing is my brain, that mass of fat and nerves which allowed me to graduate college knows better what to do than following what my heart says.  _

_ It’s what differentiates us from animals. We are just a teeny bit smarter than a bunch of ants capable of making a megastructure under the very ground we’re walking on to house billions of them, or a parrot who can copy humans’ noises if trained well enough, or octopus opening a jar from inside. We’re much smarter, we can go to the moon and have sex not only in doggy style. As if that curse is not enough we’re also given the ability to feel more than they do or not at all, no in between.  _

_ If you’re lucky, you would be born a delicate balance between a logical and romantic. Heart makes you know better than to eat the pizza all for yourself even though your tongue and tummy lust for it because your spouse who sleeps on the sofa, exhausted from work they skipped shower and dinner, who loves cheese, mushroom, and bell pepper, would love to have it for breakfast. Objectively a terrible idea for them. But then your brain says hey, finishing a plate of nice, hot cheese circle is bad for you too. So both of your brain and heart agree, you ought to put the pizza into the fridge and carry your spouse to the bedroom. _

_ Sometimes you’re not as lucky.  _

_ Yes, it’s okay to crave pizza at three am, you can’t help it that cheese is so delicious and as addictive as sugar and cocaine. But will your brain make you pick up the phone and dial a number you put on the speed dial in case such kind of emergency arises? _

Leon hums behind him. “That’s a great idea, putting pizza delivery service on your speed dial.” Raihan hums and keeps typing. 

Piers passes by. He hands Leon a can of soda water bought from a vending machine downstairs. They exchange an easy smile.

_ So maybe the next time you see your pet cat liking your sister more than you, your crush smiling into their phone in a way they never did when they talk to you, remember who spends the most time, who feeds them, who chats them, and who plays with them more. Maybe it’s your heart, being a dumb bitch it is, trying to make your overal good-mediocre day turn hellish in a blink of eye, which your brain doesn't approve. _

_ Maybe you’re just too clingy, also consider that. _

There’s another topic he would like to cover, but maybe he should save that for next edition if people are interested enough in his thoughts and wisdoms. Also because he needs more time and bourbon at home to make him nice and loose, helping him process said thought.

He asks for Piers’ and Nessa’s opinion on the article. Nessa gives him a look and says it’s okay except for some grammar errors. Piers takes his time reading it. “For someone who snacks on gummy worms while working despite the sticky mess they make on his keyboard, your writings are unexpectedly grim.”

“Is it? It’s about love.”

“You’re making me think too much. As I said that, am I a brain or am I a heart?”

“You are a cute… angle” Raihan fingerguns him.

“I’ll let that slide but next time, I’m telling the HR.” Piers winks. "I did not lose a dad so I can hear another dad joke twelve years later."

" _ That, _ is grim."

So it all started this Monday. Raihan shared the elevator with Leon, Piers, and Nanu. It’s not shocking to see everyone looking so fucked on the first day of the week. Fucked, as in covered in hickeys or hungover. Nanu was the latter, Piers and Leon were both.

Maybe it was a form of solidarity since they work and suffer inside the same building, maybe it was more. Piers and Leon were more smiley only to each other and offered the other if they needed more water or warm lemonade (Raihan didn’t know that’s a thing). 

Yes he’s very much interested in them. Yes it’s terrible knowing they like each other more than they did him, at least enough to not invite him over. But sometimes people like to have sex in two and not three, right? 

He should bother them more. He should do reverse psychology. No, his touch starved ape brain won’t like not hugging them from behind for a day or playing with their stupid long and soft and oh so fluffy hair whenever he could.

Come Wednesday and the hickeys are still there as Raihan types away behind his monitor. Leon takes a sip from Piers’ can of milk coffee.    
  
He wonders if he should tell the readers maybe they were horrible people in their past life, hence why whatever happens now torments them so terribly that now and then both brain and heart give up providing them reasoning and reassurance. He added that at the end.

Piers grimaces at the last paragraph. “You think way too much. We don’t need any more reason to think about our mortality, you can omit that.” Raihan keeps it. "Take it easy Raihan this is not Existentialism Digest." 

So since he’s confident in his brain's capability of not making him do anything stupid, it’s okay to use it to think about his gorgeous coworkers improperly now and then. And while he’s at it, why not go all the way and up it to eleven. Twenty. One hundred. All out of ten.

Piers is occupying the desk where Raihan’s crush for eight years and counting used to work, his love he hasn’t forgotten even after three years of not seeing him. Before Piers he spent hours daydreaming about doing  _ things _ on that desk. Proper and improper. Now Piers is involved some way or another. Leon can watch or join when he allows it. Oh it goes downhill real fast. He wants to put collars on them. And leashes.

Then it gets worse.

He had slept with Leon before. Had seen him naked. Had seen his body he worked so hard for clad in sexy form fitting suits during award events. Had seen his junk barely showing under his trousers when they were playing a game in which one or both of them go to work freeballing. Had seen his crotch was covered in atrocious purple, yellow, and white briefs more than he should ever see that color combination (it’s his favorite underwear and he owns more than three of it. Sometimes Raihan wondered just how did he bear with those years of having to see it three times out of five they fuck), which is a slippery slope to  _ what about Piers? He would look so good in briefs or boxer briefs or... thongs… g strings... _

So he did the most rational thing his brain which never failed him tells him to: google pictures of thongs in the color of hot pink and black, which are also the colors of Piers’ favorite tie. 

No, the company won’t be able to look at his search history from the wifi’s server or something. And what are they gonna do about it if they know? It’s for research, for his next article about love or something. Lance did tell him to do whatever it takes to deliver products at its optimal quality, or something like that. Oh Raihan misses him so bad, he should have confessed. Piers is sipping tea on his desk now. Is it a good idea to ask Leon for his number to say hello the first time since he resigned? 

He means Lance, but...

Does he have Piers’ number? Should he just chat him through Line since he’s a part of the editorial team’s group chat? That would be a bit weird, but convenient. Even if Leon does have his number he would tell Raihan to just contact him on Line, before making fun of his crush showing again.

Well then do not ask Leon. Keep on bothering them. Stare at Piers’ profile on Line and don’t type a thing. Ignore that weird thing his hands feel on Piers’ hips when he pranks/tickles/hugs him from behind in the copy room.

No, he can’t ignore that. A bit of restroom wank takes care of it though.

What the fuck was that?

No it can’t be.

It’s a fold of his shirt is all. Weirdly firm, symmetrical on both hips, and flimsy yes but what else could it be?

Nah.

Another wank one hour later. 

Even if it is indeed  _ that _ , it can’t be that weird. Raihan sometimes forgot to take off his nipple studs. Us all humans forget now and then. Gotta put that in his next article.

He comes back to the clock at the bottom right corner of his monitor showing it’s already one pm. He forgets to steal Piers’ pudding in the pantry’s fridge. It’s okay, he can still eat his own chickpea salad he labelled and named and no one ever wanted to steal. Nice and cold, like how it's supposed to be.

In the pantry, Piers offers him sour gummy worms. “Since you like it so much I decided to give it a try but turns out it’s a different brand from the one that you usually eat.”

“I eat these at home.” When watching Pretty Little Liars with his still unnamed pet bird (and sometimes stray squirrels paying him a visit) at home.

“Ah.” It’s not very sour but Raihan is too polite to say anything about it. “It’s not very sour, by the way,” Piers says with a frown.

“Yes, yes it is not.”

“Sorry if you like red and yellow worms, those are my favorite and I ate them all already.”

“I don’t discriminate against the worms.” Piers smirks at his words and it makes his  _ heart _ do things. Then he proceeds to tell him how the interns are giving him a hard time again.  _ They’re kids, can’t be helped since they’re still full of beans _ , Raihan will say. For now, he pretends to look into his mug of coffee, now lukewarm inside Leon’s cherry mug he took from the overhead cupboard.

Is he wearing it? Is it pink? Is it black? Can he see the strap from this angle? No, the shirt is not thin enough to let him peek. Also, he’s too tall. Being tall, just like being smart and having emotions, is actually a curse.

“So… I need someone to take care of them tomorrow for that.”

“That must be rough.”

“Yeah.” 

Piers goes silent, but why? Oh, Raihan forgets to look up. 

Too late to return his attention to his coworker, Piers is already lifting an eyebrow and looking down to follow where his gaze is. Raihan stammers, “Sorry there’s--”  _ something in my coffee and I wanted to fish it out. Yes, with my hand but that would be rude. _

“Dude. Just tell me next time.” Piers reaches down to zip up his pants.”I’d rather you say something rather than just stare.”

Actually thanks to the mug obstructing his view, he couldn’t see the zipper. But this is better than having to explain he’s trying to see if Piers is wearing thongs during working hours or not. “Sorry, don’t wanna make you feel weird.”

Piers just stares. His brows furrow down. He bites his lip as if holding a smile… oh no. “Hey. I hate to tell you this but… the world is so much more than what you perceive, you know.”

Wrong, at least for himself only. Raihan shrugs with a smile. “Maybe… I’d rather look at it than say out loud you’ve been walking around with your junk on display.”

  
  
  


_ But us humans are not immune to fault, no matter how smart we are, how big our brains are, how loving our hearts are, how long we take our time in thinking what we should do next. In the end sometimes there’s nothing you can do.  _

_ Enjoy life as it is, the bitters and sweets. _

  
  
  


“Oh yeah he’s most likely wearing a nipple stud. He likes to put it on at home for no reason.”

“Would it be weird if I tell him I have those too? Seems like gummy worms were too vanilla of a topic.”

“Nah, that’s not weird at all.”


End file.
